The River

You are reading the final post I will ever post on AikenAction.blogspot.com.

Have no fear however! This blog will stay active for historical (hysterical?) reasons. And AikenAction isn't going away; we're just relocating. You can find all future Aiken action updates, musings, and breaking news at my website MarkAiken.com. AikenAction the blog will live there.

I suppose it's no coincidence that this change is happening now. (Or is it just a big coincidence? You'll have to be the judge...) My freelancing career started in 1997 in Flagstaff, Arizona. It's not a happy story actually: I bought a plane ticket to return for a second winter of ski instructing in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria one day in October. I tore my ACL playing hockey that night.

I ended up not skiing in the Bavarian Alps that winter (or anywhere else -- unless you count teaching 4-year-olds on the bunny slope on Arizona Snowbowl's Hart Prairie, which I did against the explicit instructions of my surgeon). I did end up having an ACL reconstruction, and working 4 or 5 odd jobs that didn't require me to be fully mobile. The jobs included sales clerk at McGaugh's Newsstand (loved that place -- now defunct), picking up lab tests at local veterinary hospitals (sketchy... probably the topic of a future post), various tasks at the ski area, running river shuttles... and writing an article per week for the weekly entertainment insert for the Arizona Daily Sun.

Why is this coincidental? Well, I just returned from central Oregon. And in central Oregon, I reunited with many of my best buddies from the decade I spent in Flagstaff. A few of them still live in Flag, but others are in Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, and Idaho. We all converged on Bend, Oregon for a wedding, and then we floated the John Day River -- the last undammed river in Oregon.

So coincidental that I am updating my writer's blog just after being surrounded with the same people who surrounded me when I first launched my professional writing career in the first place.

Thanks for reading this blog... and I'll see you for more AikenAction over at Mark.com!

A Good Trail Is Hard To Find

Not really, if you live in Richmond, Vermont. But we also know that good trails don't just appear; they have to be built, maintained, and protected.

Last weekend a small but capable trail crew of volunteers went out and made the above improvements to some of the Richmond Mountain Trails. The trails are still closed due to wet and muddy conditions (and last night's Biblical rain didn't exactly help with this), but should open soon.

We dug some ditches and put in some stone walkways and bridges on some particularly muddy sections. Should make a difference! I can't wait to run these babies as summer approaches... and as soon as I make my next big purchase (can you say mountain bike) start riding again. I look forward to varying my exercise diet. I'll still run, but I think my ankles, heels, knees, and hips will appreciate the occasional trail ride mixed in with the running. Regardless of the mode of travel, I appreciate our local trails.